The following few questions would never be expected to flow from a foreigner's
mouth. Each question has some historical root in a debate that was hot in its
time or something that was very popular then but is laughable at best today.
Since we are dealing with historical debates/events, not all people will get
the 'joke' right off. So choose your victims, I mean conversation partners,
wisely.

さて、さっそくはじめましょうか

1) What to do with those pesky barbarians?!

開国か攘夷、どっちを応援しますか？kaikoku ka joui, docchi o ouen shimasu ka?
"Open the country" or "out with the barbarians", which side
are you rooting for?

This one requires a bit of history...

In 1603 徳川家康 Tokugawa Ieyasu through political
and military maneuvering managed to unite the many 藩han (autonomous regions within Japan ruled by 大名daimyou) under his overseeing control. While each
大名 daimyou had control over their area, they all had to
report to the 将軍 shougun (Tokugawa). Tokugawa drove
out Christianity (by murdering them!), closed the country from foreign
influence, and gave Japan 200 years or so of relative peace.

However by the mid 1800's the 徳川幕府Tokugawa
Bakufu (Tokugawa Shogunate) had lost much of its control over many
of the hans especially the vehemently anti-Bakufu western Satsuma and
Choshu clans. With peace being the norm for so long, samurai now had little
to do but to work hand to mouth and seek causes for which to be employed.
Seeing more and more foreign influence in Japan - especially after Commodore
Perry's famous black ships - these 浪人rounin
began to use the slogan 「尊皇攘夷」 sonnou joui
(revere the emperor and expel the barbarians) to get at the Bakufu for
being so weak on keeping foreigners out of the country as well as other
grievances.

Eventually the Satsuma and Choshu anti-Bakufu activists realized they
needed the barbarian technology and couldn't, with their current strength,
prevent the foreigners from doing what they did in other countries - colonization.
So many dropped the 攘夷 slogan and replaced it with
the seemingly opposite 開国. At least for 'now'
let's open the country, learn from the barbarians and when we are strong
enough we can expel them once and for all. Of course this never happened
exactly according to plan.

開国kaikoku - open the country; allow foreign access
to Japan and Japanese access to foreign technology and knowledge攘夷 joui - expel the barbarians; movement in the
mid-1800's to remove all foreigners and their barbarian ways from Japan

It may be helpful to express your sincere desire for 開国 to
win out since you are after all... a barbarian :)どうか、開国を応援してくれ！douka, kaikoku o ouen shite kure!I beg you, please root for opening the country!

2) モガ・モボ - Modern Girl/Boy

At the turn of the century (last one, not this one!) モガ and モボ were used to
describe young people who dressed in Western fashion, listened to Western music/dances,
etc.

to a man in his 30s or 40s: 若いころ、モボでしたか？ wakai koro, mobo deshita kA?When you were young were you one of those modern boys?

to a woman in her 30s or 40s: 若いころ、モガでしたか？wakai koro, moga deshita kA?When you were young were you one of those modern girls?

This may be rude to someone fairly old, so stick to those younger crowd (30-50
being recommended).

3) Disco Days

ハッスルしていますか？hassuru shite imasu kA?
Are you doing the hustle?

The 「ハッスル」and 「フィーバー」 were of course
slogans from the 70's. From time to time you hear of a disco revival - there
are several disco musicians popular in Japan now for example - but the appeal
from that era seems to have slipped away from public adoration.

4) Your sword, please...

廃刀令は不公平だと思いません？haitourei wa fukouhei da to omoimasen?
Don't you think the law banning swords in public is unfair?

Returning to our little history lesson...

After the fall of the Tokugawa Bakufu(Tokugawa
慶喜Yoshinobu abdicated power to the emperor
at 二条城nijoujou
Nijo Castle in 1868 - if you are ever in Kyoto, by all means go to
二条城. You can see the actual room where one era gave
way to another!) Japan went full force to modernize the country.
One aspect of the 明治維新meiji ishin Meiji
Restoration (no, it wasn't about making chocolate) was to tear down the
class structure that had been so central to Bakufu policy. The Samurai
, farmer and merchant were at least in theory equals in the Meiji era.
Perhaps as a way to enforce this, samurai no longer had the right to wear
a sword in public. Also the law was to be upheld not by a samurai class
but by officials of the new government. This law is called 廃刀令haitourei

Perhaps patting your side sword hip with nostalgia while saying this will help
give a greater voice to your struggle.

The real 三種の神器sanshu no jingi are the emperor's
3 sacred and somewhat legendary items: 1) mirror, 2) a sword and 3) a
jewel.

昭和30年代 is from 1955-1965 and its 三種の神器
represent the 3 newly essential appliances afforded by the booming economy
of that era. The 'real' 昭和３０年代の三種の神器 were actually
a 1) Refrigerator, 2) B/W TV and 3) Washing machine.

The tamagocchi was a big hit in the 90's. It was (I guess you can still
buy them...) an electronic pet which required your constant attention
day and night or else it died. It was shaped like an egg, henｃe the たまご

To read about the Showa 30 nendai no sanshu no jingi, (in Japanese) please
click here.

Should you have something to add (or correct), please feel free to leave comments
at the bottom and I will try to add them to this page.

さらば、友よ！ [saraba, tomo yo! Goodbye, my friend]*

* like さようなら, さらば is used when you won't see someone again or for a long while.
Of course, I hope to see you again soon, but it just sounds a lot cooler than
またね...